


To Feel Safe in the Dark

by townshend



Category: Silent Hill
Genre: Gen, Other, Shattered Memories canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-13
Updated: 2011-03-13
Packaged: 2017-10-16 22:13:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/169898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/townshend/pseuds/townshend
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Let's start again," he said, leaning forward. "Tell me something else you remember. Anything."</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Feel Safe in the Dark

Cheryl had been afraid of the dark.

It wasn't surprising, really - a lot of kids went through that phase. She'd keep a night light on and ask Harry to check under the bed and in the closet after he tucked her in - and he obliged, even though he always insisted there were no such things and monsters, and there were _certainly_ none in her room.

The night light, however, wasn't battery-powered - and on one night when the electricity got cut-off for the entire south side of Silent Hill (thanks to some kids playing pranks, it was later revealed), Cheryl had to sleep without her aid.

It happened just as Harry was tucking her in - the room's light was already out and the nightlight was on, a soft blue lamp that turned and projected tiny fish across the room. Harry was just pulling the covers around her when, suddenly, that blue light was gone.

Cheryl screamed, high-pitched and sudden, and it only took Harry a second to realize what had happened.

"Cheryl!" He tried to sound calm, grabbing one of her hands, quickly seating himself on the edge of her bed. "Honey, it's okay!"

"The monsters are gonna come!" Cheryl cried, gripping tightly onto her father's hand.

Harry reached out, smoothing her hair with his other hand. "Shh. It's okay. There's not going to be any monsters," he promised. "Let me go find you a flashlight. Okay?"

"No!" Cheryl shook her head violently from side-to-side. "Don't go!"

"It's okay," Harry said again. "I'll be right back. I know it's hard, but I need you to be brave. Can you do that for me, sweetie?"

Cheryl stared up at what little she could see of her father in the moonlight, swallowing in fear. She tried to think of the heroes in the stories her dad always told her... they were all brave and strong. None of them would get stopped by a dumb light going out! Besides, he promised he'd be right back...

"I can be brave," she said, nodding.

"Good girl." Harry kissed the top of her head before standing. "There's one in the kitchen. I'll be back in one minute."

And of course, that had been a promise he had kept.

Over the years, darkness stopped bothering Cheryl too much. There were other, bigger things she had to be brave against the older she got, and she wondered, why hadn't her dad told her about any of _these_ things? The kids at school, who bullied and picked on her; the police and security guards, who were always too damn hard on her; her teacher and the way he took advantage of her; her own damn _mother_ who did nothing but drink and flounder and yell at her.

And those memories, the ones buried in the back of her head, the ones she knew in lucid moments but forgot over and over and over again...

"I lied to him," Cheryl said, bitterly, rubbing her dirty high-top sneakers into the carpet, staring at the scuffs. "I told him I could be brave. But I can't."

"I don't know about that," Dr. Kaufmann said, slowly. "I think you're very brave. Coming here in the first place must have been very hard."

Cheryl didn't have the heart to object that it had been court ordered. He already knew that, anyway. When she didn't respond, Kaufmann sighed, leaning back in his chair, hands steepling.

"You know something? You're too hard on yourself. Whose expectations are you forcing on yourself? Surely not your own. And not your father's."

No response. Kaufmann sighed. "Let's start again," he said, leaning forward. "Tell me something else you remember. Anything."


End file.
